I really believe this system is intriguing. Basically you have 4 super conferences, and the mid-major conference teams are relegated to subgroups with the opportunity to play up and get into a super conference. If you're a perennial basement dweller like Indiana, you'll spend a lot of time in the subgroup instead of the main conference.
School | Current Conference | New Conference | Conference Type | Football Revenue in 2009* | Point Total |
SUPER-BIG NORTH CONFERENCE | |||||
Cincinnati | Big East | Big North | Super | 11,460,935 | 12 |
Iowa | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 38,896,234 | 11 |
Penn State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 61,767,717 | 11 |
Ohio State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 68,196,195 | 11 |
Pittsburgh | Big East | Big North | Super | 20,494,743 | 10 |
Wisconsin | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 40,005,517 | 10 |
Nebraska | Big-12/Big Ten | Big North | Super | 55,226,605 | 10 |
West Virginia | Big East | Big North | Super | 28,952,873 | 9 |
Northwestern | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 23,951,794 | 8 |
Missouri | Big-12 | Big North | Super | 24,141,873 | 8 |
Temple | MAC | Big North | Super | 8,037,577 | 7 |
Iowa State | Big 12 | Big North | Super | 21,261,439 | 7 |
Minnesota | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 25,594,942 | 6 |
Michigan State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 43,506,725 | 5 |
Michigan | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 52,246,025 | 5 |
Purdue | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 18,320,608 | 4 |
Indiana › | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 20,836,473 | 4 |
Illinois › | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 25,710,645 | 2 |
SUB-BIG NORTH CONFERENCE | |||||
Central Michigan ^ | MAC | Big North | Sub | 7,991,950 | 13 |
Ohio ^ | MAC | Big North | Sub | 6,043,619 | 10 |
Northern Illinois | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,150,310 | 8 |
Marshall | C-USA | Big North | Sub | 6,859,758 | 8 |
Bowling Green | MAC | Big North | Sub | 2,118,327 | 7 |
Kent State | MAC | Big North | Sub | 4,997,453 | 5 |
Western Michigan | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,603,913 | 5 |
Toledo | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,857,513 | 5 |
Akron | MAC | Big North | Sub | 1,577,189 | 3 |
Ball State | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,181,790 | 2 |
Miami (OH) | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,356,706 | 1 |
Eastern Michigan | MAC | Big North | Sub | 5,289,450 | 0 |
Now, what I also really like about this article is the Football Revenue numbers. Right there you can see who's bringing in the money, and who's leeching off the conference. Notice Nebraska's 55 million fits in nicely, while Mizzou brought in 24 million. If you consider that football revenue is a major factor in conference expansion, it's pretty clear why Nebraska got an offer and Mizzou didn't.
This brings me to a table I made:
School | Current Conference | New Conference | Conference Type | Football Revenue in 2009* | Point Total |
EXPANSION CANDIDATES +CURRENT B10 | |||||
Texas | Big-12 | Southern | Super | 87,583,986 | 13 |
Notre Dame | N/A | N/A | Sub | 83,352,439 | 0 |
Ohio State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 68,196,195 | 11 |
Penn State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 61,767,717 | 11 |
Nebraska | Big-12/Big Ten | Big North | Super | 55,226,605 | 10 |
Michigan | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 52,246,025 | 5 |
Michigan State | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 43,506,725 | 5 |
Wisconsin | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 40,005,517 | 10 |
Iowa | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 38,896,234 | 11 |
Illinois | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 25,710,645 | 2 |
Minnesota | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 25,594,942 | 6 |
Missouri | Big-12 | Big North | Super | 24,141,873 | 8 |
Northwestern | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 23,951,794 | 8 |
Indiana | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 20,836,473 | 4 |
Pittsburgh | Big East | Big North | Super | 20,494,743 | 10 |
Rutgers | Big East | Big North | Super | 19,738,023 | 9 |
Purdue | Big Ten | Big North | Super | 18,320,608 | 4 |
Maryland | ACC | Atlantic | Sub | 13,980,823 | 3 |
I think this clearly illustrates why the Big East teams are unattractive from a financial standpoint with regard to expansion. I know people want to see eastern teams on our schedule, but they would all rate at the bottom of the conference in football revenue and that's going to be hard to offset with supposed TV contracts. Based on these stats Nebraska was a home run addition to the conference.
And, because everyone loves a poll:
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